CauseKeepers

The 11^th Annual Ovarian Cancer National Alliance Conference will run July 8-10, 2008 in Washington, DC. In September 1997, leaders from seven ovarian cancer groups joined forces to form the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Their primary goal was to establish a coordinated national effort to place ovarian cancer education, policy and research issues prominently on the agendas of national policy makers and women's health care leaders. CauseKeepers Vice President, Sam Hicks, and Graphics Coordinator, Joseph Pugh, will be in attendance.

From Local Activism to National Advocacy

In the five years before the Alliance formed, the energy and commitment of the founding leaders fueled important efforts around ovarian cancer issues in various parts of the country. Although some of these activists had begun to communicate with each other, few had met until the spring of 1997, when two seminal events occurred. These events, a two-day stakeholders meeting convened by the Department of Defense to launch its Ovarian Cancer Research Program and a town hall meeting convened by the Indianapolis-based Ovar'coming Together, prompted the consumer community to organize a coordinated national effort.

These two opportunities for leaders from the consumer community to meet, share and network opened the door for joint and coordinated activities among the groups they represented. In the ensuing six months, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance was formed, and the founding members, from consumer groups nationwide, constituted themselves as its board.

The Founding Organizations

The Alliance founders were the newsletter "Conversations!" (Texas); National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (Florida); Ovar'coming Together (Indiana); Ovarian Cancer Coalition of Greater Washington(Washington, D.C.); Ovarian Cancer Survivors Quilt Project (Virginia); Ovarian Plus International (Hawaii); and SHARE: Self-Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer (New York). Each of these has made a unique contribution to the ovarian cancer movement.

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